Ficus leaves not hardening

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Naimul
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Ficus leaves not hardening

Post by Naimul »

Recently i cut off a branch off my ficus and have been trying to grow it as a cutting, which has been progressing nicely, but for some reason the new growth does not seem to be hardening off. everything is growing as normal but, unlike its parent tree, the leaves are still very tender and soft even though they have matured in size and possibly age. does anyone know why this is happening? not enough nutrients?
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Acer buergerianum, Acer palmatum, Bougainvillea (something), Ficus microcarpa, Lagerstroemia indica 'Fauriei', Melaleuca styphelioides, Olea Europa, Prunus (something) 'Dwarf Apricot', Quercus robur, Ulmus parvifolia, Zelkova serrata
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kvan64
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Re: Ficus leaves not hardening

Post by kvan64 »

They look fine to me. As the leaves are green, it seems to have sufficient Nitrogen in the feed. If you want it to harden a bit and also to improve the general vigor of the plants, you could feed them with high Postasium fertilizer. However, if it starts to get cooler where you live then you would start to cut down the feeding anyway.
In short - nothing to worry about!
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DK
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Naimul
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Re: Ficus leaves not hardening

Post by Naimul »

kvan64 wrote:They look fine to me. As the leaves are green, it seems to have sufficient Nitrogen in the feed. If you want it to harden a bit and also to improve the general vigor of the plants, you could feed them with high Postasium fertilizer. However, if it starts to get cooler where you live then you would start to cut down the feeding anyway.
In short - nothing to worry about!
Cheers
DK
yes its getting cooler as of late, i have pretty much cut down on all fertilisers. could the marks on the leaves be any kind of indication of what could be going on? looks as though something has been crawling inside, like a leaf miner, but there are no bugs or any kind of significant damage on the leaves.
Acer buergerianum, Acer palmatum, Bougainvillea (something), Ficus microcarpa, Lagerstroemia indica 'Fauriei', Melaleuca styphelioides, Olea Europa, Prunus (something) 'Dwarf Apricot', Quercus robur, Ulmus parvifolia, Zelkova serrata
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Boics
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Re: Ficus leaves not hardening

Post by Boics »

Looks fine to me.
You could put a plastic bag over the top (if it fits) which will help with loss of moisture, an increase in humidity and temperatures.

Good luck - I've found figs to be pretty easy to strike even when they look like they are almost dead!
Hope you have the same success.
Last edited by Boics on May 30th, 2014, 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
One of the fabulous things about growing bonsai is as you get old and decrepit your trees get old and beautiful
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